Huskies defense a study of inconsistency

At the start of the season, most of the questions about the UW football team were centered around the defense.

The offense had playmakers. Jake Locker, Chris Polk, Jermaine Kearse, Kavario Middleton, Ryan Tolar, Ben Ossai were all expected to contribute heavily and, at the very least, lead to some points on the board for the Huskies.

UW linebacker Mason Foster is part of a Husky defense that has shown flashes of excellence, but struggled overall this season. (Getty Images/Otto Greule Jr)

The defense on the other hand, was mostly a group of guys with big question marks next to their names. Outside of Daniel Te’o-Nesheim, Donald Butler, and Nate Williams, most of the players were unknowns (Mason Foster, E.J. Savannah, and Desmond Trufant were known, but not expected to star for different reasons).

After ten games, the Huskies defense has answered some of those questions, but also added a lot more.

After the first couple of games, the defense surprised in some areas and performed as expected in others. Against LSU, Washington gave up 321 yards, with 149 coming on the ground, and allowed three TD passes, but remained in the game until the end. Against Idaho, the Dawgs gave up 412 yards to Vandals, but only 63 came on the ground and the Huskies found a penchant for holding teams to field goals once they got in the red zone (Idaho got in the red zone three times in the first half, but came away with only nine points).

Then the USC game happened and Washington held a premier powerhouse (and 3rd-ranked) Trojan team to just 13 points in the upset victory. But the Huskies were facing a team without their starting quarterback and still gave up 250 rushing yards.

After those first three games, the ups-and-downs continued. The Huskies over the next seven games would allow teams to rush for totals of 321, 169, 259, and 178 yards. But that same defense held teams to totals of 77, 108, and 84 yards on the ground. Now you can make the argument that the low rush totals came against pass-heavy teams (Arizona, Notre Dame, and UCLA), but those teams were still held to an average of 53 yards less per game than their season averages.

One thing, unfortunately, that the Huskies have not been up-and-down in is the amount of points per game they surrender. Washington gives up an average of 31 points per game and, in the last seven, has given up no fewer than 24. On the season, UW is being outscored by an average of almost seven per game.

But bright spots have also come in those high point totals. Certain young players showed progress (Nate Fellner, Adam Long, Andru Pulu, Talia Chrichton) and the Huskies gave flashes of being the unit that defensive coordinator Nick Holt envisions having.

Despite giving up 37 points to Notre Dame, the defense was huge through three quarters, then faltered in the fourth and overtime. Against Oregon, the Huskies played a staunch first half before imploding in the second half. Arizona State had been held in the second half until the unbelievable final play. And against UCLA, the Huskies forced four turnovers. Even against Oregon State, the Huskies forced a handful of fumbles (they just couldn’t recover any of them).

Unfortunately for the Huskies, the inconsistency on defense has not resulted in one of those fluky seasons where the stats don’t match the numbers. UW surrenders over 420 yards and 31 points per game. That’s a pretty telling stat for a 3-7 team.

When Steve Sarkisian, Nick Holt, and the rest of the staff sit down and look at this season, many different aspects will stand out. But the up-and-down play of the defense may be the biggest stand-out. And unless something changes between now and the end of the season, the biggest question heading into this year will become the biggest question of next year.